Trafficking in women and children in India

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends

I am currently working on a UNIFEM project on Violence Against Women,

with special focus on trafficking in women and children in India.

Trafficking is reported to have become one of the fastest growing global trades

in the world and has expanded so much that today it stands third after the

trans-national illegal trade in arms and drugs.

I am engaged in developing media content on the subject, specifically

trying to push as many local stories as possible in the print & electronic

media during the 'Violence Against Women Week', starting 25th November 2001.

I will be grateful to receive information on authentic case studies

of women and children trafficked in South East Asia, preferably with special

reference to India.

All contributions will be duly acknowledged in the final output.

Rupa Gupta

Joint Co-ordinator

Development Alliance

M 170 Greater Kailash II

New Delhi 110 048

India

Tel: +91.11.623 5377

Fax: +91.11.628 2373

Email: rupa.gupta@...

Web: www.dev-alliance.com

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[Guest guest]

This is in response to the UNIFEM project on Violence Against Women, which

focus on trafficking in women and children in India.

When we detected HIV infection first in India (Feb 1986), then we knew about

trafficking of women. Stories are often heart rending. There seems to be no

limit to human cruelty to humans, and mostly for money. Trafficking has been

going on, unknown to us, for a very very long time. Interventions to prevent

this inhuman trade is essential to reduce transmission -- not just for this,

but trafficking is against all norms of ethics, decency, civil behaviour

etc. We found that sometimes the extra money is a reason for complicity by

the law keepers themselves. In the most recent Lancet, there is an article

that police is a very important team of public health personnel. How true in

this scenario too.

HIV never caused any epidemic. We do, by creating all sorts of channels for

passing on the virus. I heard about a child getting infected in a Mumbai

hospital very recently, through blood transfusion. Another child,

thalassaemic, always got clean blood, many times, but visited the home town,

away from Mumbai, got one transfusion and got infected. In 2001. When will

we become civilised?

T

E-mail: <tjjohn@...>

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